He revealed that he and his family enjoyed their 18 months spent in New Zealand while he filmed the project.

"New Zealand is a place where you can get well. There's not very much to do there apart from eat well and drink very nice wine!" he told Daybreak.

"I was there for about 38 years actually," he joked. "No, I went in January of last year - the day before my birthday - and we were there for 18 months. I came back in January to do another series of Monroe, Peter Jackson had given me the time off.

"[My family] had a fantastic time and it was great. The girls, my daughters, when we first told them they were genuinely heartbroken at the idea of leaving, it was horrible."

Talking about his character, he said: "I'm sort of the thinking woman's dwarf, the George Clooney of dwarves," and then added that Bofur is "considered to be the optimistic one who always sees the goodness in most people".

Nesbitt added that he will return to New Zealand for reshoots in 2013. On Jackson's plans for a third film, he said: "I think when Peter began to cut it, he thought, 'There's more in this than [we] thought'."

He also praised Sir Ian McKellen, and went on to say that "Martin Freeman as [Bilbo] is just a revelation".

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is to be released on December 14, while the second film - The Desolation of Smaug - opens on December 13, 2013.